I’m Seriously Considering Picking Up Need for Speed Most Wanted for Wii U

While I enjoyed Need for Speed Most Wanted when it made its original run this past holiday season, I wasn’t in love with it. Yet, I feel some strange urge to go out and pick the game up when it releases on the Wii U. No, not because the system is in need of games; I already own five. (All of them were purcahsed on day one, but that’s beside the point).

I want to pick it up just to see how well the Miiverse connectivity fits within the game.

This is the true showcase for the Wii U and third-party developers. Here’s a game that’s being (quietly) touted as the “definitive version.” Last time we heard that phrase, it was being applied to Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, and that game ended up being pretty damn fun. We’ll see how the game holds up to its 360 and PS3 counterparts soon enough.

Perhaps the biggest thing Need for Speed Most Wanted U has going for it is the fact that the game isn’t being changed to cater towards the Wii U’s GamePad, but enhanced. At its core, this will still be the same game we played months ago. The only difference is the features being added to it. Nothing stripped down, no graphical limitations; this is the same experience as before, but enhanced.

That Miiverse connectivity, it somehow speaks out to me. The ability to lie down in bed at night, do a couple of races via Off-TV play, and look at cool Miiverse art all the while is a major selling point in the game’s favor.

I suppose it’s nice that the game is the “best looking version” of the title, but truth be told visuals don’t really matter to me. They do, however, matter to a lot of people. So Criterion’s ability to use the extra horsepower of the Wii U to their advantage is a huge win for Nintendo. It might not stand toe-to-toe with the PlayStation 4 and next Xbox, but it’s always encouraging to see developers taking advantage of the system.

It’s truly a shame that the Wii U isn’t in every third-party developer’s bed. Because if it were, I have a feeling I’d be picking up a lot of games for the Wii U over other consoles for the same reasons why I’m incredibly interested in Need For Speed Most Wanted U. Is this the same game I played several months ago? Sure. My interested is piqued enough, however, to warrant a purchase.

At least this means that the online community won’t be populated by pricks

I’m actually really excited for this game. It’s just a shame that more developers aren’t taking advantage of the hardware — I’d love to play games like Tomb Raider or Bioshock Infinite on the Wii U over the Xbox 360. And they don’t even have to shoehorn stuff on the controller either. But with the install base being what it is, I don’t think developers are going to take the risk.